Gatsby Project

This week I had to do a project for my English class, and I decided to incorporate baking into it. I ended up baking two cakes and hollowing one out. Due to various problems I do not have a a lot of photos, but I will do my best to describe a mental Image. I made two cakes, one was a plain white cake with raspberry butter cream frosting.

 For the White cake with raspberry butter cream frosting I used these recipes:
Ingredients:

For The White Cake:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For The Raspberry Frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6-8 cups powdered sugar (I used 5)
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (I used a full cup)
• Milk (optional)
• Red food colouring (optional)

Directions:

For The Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment as well. Using parchment paper is very important because it helps the cake come out of the pan easier. 

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat well, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, beating until combined. Add milk and vanilla and beat until just combined.

 Divide the batter between pans; smooth tops with an off-set spatula. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, 33 to 35 minutes. Mine took 35 minutes.

Let cakes cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Mix butter and jam in an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, and well incorporated, this will take about 2 minutes.

Add powdered sugar one cup, or half cups at a time until you reach your desired taste and consistency. I ended up sing 5 cups of powdered sugar, adding half cups at a time. Keep the mixer on a low speed so the powdered sugar doesn't explode everywhere.

If the frosting gets too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it out, if it gets too thin add a bit more powdered sugar. If your frosting is not the desired pink colour you desire, add a bit of red food colouring to it.

Ingredients:

For The Chocolate Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

For The Chocolate Frosting:

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks), softened

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

5 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

Directions For The Cake
Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by greasing the pans with butter, then parchment paper, then buttering the parchment paper.

Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.

Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batter.


Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. My cake took 40 minutes to bake.


Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

Notes/My Experience:
I had a good experience with both recipes, though I believe the chocolate one turned out better. I hollowed out the white cake to show the hollowness of the upper class in the novel "The Great Gatsby." The cake started to cave in when I was frosting it, so I cut out a piece of tinfoil and frosted over it, it took everyone by surprise! I had a lot of fun trying to figure out an idea for my project, and I'm glad it turned out so well!

Enjoy!xx 

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes With Meringue Frosting

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Seedless raspberry jam
• Fresh raspberries (optional)

For the Frosting:

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the Cupcakes:

Gather ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 3 teaspoons lemon peel in a bowl until fluffy and pale yellow. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in half of flour. Beat in buttermilk and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, then remaining flour.

Drop one rounded tablespoonful of batter into each paper liner. Drop one teaspoon raspberry jam onto the center of batter. Cover jam with remaining batter. You will want to fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full, to avoid over pouring cupcakes.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted half way into the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on rack. Cool completely before frosting. My cupcakes took exactly 23 minutes, which is oddly specific, but it works. When inserting the tester you will want to stick it in towards the side of the cupcake to make sure you don't get jam on it.

For the Frosting:

In a large, clean heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, water and corn syrup. Set the bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat the mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160F on an instant-read thermometer), about two minutes. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat until glossy and voluminous, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Use right away. My mixture took longer to heat up than two minutes. If you are planning on using this I suggest you really use it right away, it starts to get weird after awhile.

My Experience:

I have never made this recipe. I have also never made meringue frosting before. These cupcakes turned out really well. The only thing I would change is the frosting, and how much I put in the cupcakes. I didn't fill the cupcake liners as much as I should. I was experimenting with a different frosting than normal and although it was good, it wasn't my favourite. I would recommend using a raspberry butter cream frosting, considering that you still probably have some raspberry jam left. This was a very nice recipe that I would recommend to anyone!

Enjoy!xx

Toffee

This week I made toffee, it's pretty quick if you have time to stand in one spot and stir hot butter sugar for awhile. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (two sticks) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4-6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (pecans, almonds, ect.)
• Candy thermometer

Directions:

Gather ingredients.

Chop chocolate and nuts. Put parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on a large baking sheet. If you use parchment paper dab butter on the corners before putting it on the baking sheet. 

Melt, and stir butter and sugar in a pot over medium heat, add water. Use a pot that can handle the expansion of the mixture as it cooks. Keep stirring!

Once the butter and sugar are mixed together, turn down heat to low, continuing to stir. The toffee will start to expand at this point, depending on the stove. Still stirring.

Once the toffee reaches 300F on the candy thermometer, or if it is a light caramel brown color, remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Pour onto the prepared baking sheet spread it around with a knife or rubber spatula, not too thin, not too thick.

put chocolate chips on the hot toffee and let them melt. spread the chocolate evenly on the surface of the toffee. Sprinkle nuts over the chocolate.

Put toffee in the fridge for at least an hour, or until cooled completely. Once chilled break into pieces and serve.

My Experience:

This toffee recipe is the best one I've tried. It is pretty simple, and it makes amazing toffee. I always end up burning myself or pouring hot sugar on me so definitely be careful. I wrote this recipe out of memory, so if there is a part that doesn't seem right, please let me know!

Enjoy!xx